2025/10/16 by Puglisi, Giuseppe, Currenti, Gilda, Riccobene, Giorgio +2
#GeoINQUIRE #Summer School
paper · doi:10.13127/misc/99
This volume compiles the proceedings of the 2nd Summer School organized in the framework of the EC Project Geosphere INfrastructures for QUestions into Integrated Research (GeoINQUIRE). It also includes the guides for the school’s field trips. The overall objectives of the GeoINQUIRE project are: i) to consolidate and enhance access to multidisciplinary and interoperable datasets; ii) to improve access to new and innovative observables and products; iii) to open new research opportunities to enhance the understanding of the interface between the solid earth and its fluid envelope; iv) to support crossdisciplinary and integrated studies of extreme geohazards; v) to gamechange research possibilities in georesource management by providing innovative data, products, and services; vi) to provide innovative datamanagement, simulation, and visualisation techniques at the interface with HPC facilities. The strategic aim of the GeoINQUIRE project is to integrate the resources and capabilities of the major environmental European Research Infrastructures (RIs) consortia (ERIC), such as EPOSERIC, EMSOERIC, and ECSELERIC. The GeoINQUIRE Sicily Summer School 2025 ‘Novel technologies and observing systems for geohazard and environmental monitoring: integrated approach of the Eastern Sicily test bed’ is one of the activities coordinated under the project’s Work Package 9 Fostering cross-disciplinary research of the Earth through training and workshops. This summer school is centred on the Eastern Sicily Test Bed, a key component offered within the GeoINQUIRE project framework. The Eastern Sicily test bed includes facilities of the Etna Volcano Observatory (Etna VO), part of EPOS RI, and the Western Ionian Sea (WIS), part of EMSO RI. The motivation of such a concentration of RIs in Eastern Sicily stems from the unique feature of the area in being a natural laboratory for observing, monitoring and studying landand seafloorborn geological and environmental processes. In fact, Mt. Etna volcano is the largest southernmost volcano in Europe and one of the world’s most intensively monitored volcanoes, and the scientists have the opportunity to collect a wide spectrum of volcanological, geophysical and geochemical data related to the continuous activity. Similarly, western Ionian basin is a key site for investigating water exchanges between the eastern and western Mediterranean , trophic chain and migratory routes of oceanic fauna and in particular cetaceans. The INGV multiparametric volcano monitoring system at Mt. Etna is designed to continuously collect data that characterize the ongoing volcanic processes. This work is inherently multidisciplinary, requiring the deployment of sensor networks to measure essential physical and chemical parameters (e.g., seismicity, ground deformation, gravity/magnetic field variations, and volcanic gas flux from the ground or plumes). Additionally, the system relies on regular field surveys. Most of the data, products, and facilities resulting from this monitoring activity are made virtually, physically or remotely accessible through the EPOS platform. EMSO WIS facility consists of seafloor multisensor platforms (Calipso and Dione) placed at about 25 km from shore, at a depth of about 2000 m, and cabled to shore by means of an electrooptical cable for supplying the platforms with power and transmitting data in realtime. A standalone oceanographic mooring deployed nearby the platforms complements the suite of data of the seafloor observatories. The data acquired by WIS provide scientists with oceanographic, geophysical and environmental data timeseries accessible through the EMSO Data Portal. WIS is accessible according to the Transnational Access and RI Physical Access schemes, is jointly operated by INGV, INFN and CNR and shares assets with the KM3NeT. The KM3NeT underwater neutrino telescope is aimed at observing high energy neutrinos. KM3NeT utilizes the waterCherenkov technique to reconstruct neutrino originated events in seawater. The telescope consists of two detectors located offshore Toulon, France, at 2500 m water depth (ORCA, Oscillation Research with Cosmics in the Abyss) and at 90 km SouthEast offshore Capo Passero, Italy, at about 3500 m water depth (ARCA, Astronomy Research with Cosmics in the Abyss). ARCA is connected to shore through a network of electrooptical cables providing power and data connection from/to the telescope. ARCA is a 3D matrix of a few hundred thousand of 3inches Photomultiplier Tubes (PMTs) . In its full configuration ARCA will cover a volume of 1km3 in water. Currently, about a quarter of the system is in operation. Despite that, in February 13th 2023 ARCA detected the highest energy muon neutrino event ever recorded, with an energy exceeding 1017 eV, opening a new window into the extreme phenomena of the Universe. In complementarity with the activities of KM3NeT, another cabled infrastructure is in operation in the Gulf of Catania, jointly operated by INGV and INFN. The subsea site is connected to shore through a 28kmlong electrooptical fibercable reaching a depth of 2100 meters. It supports several devices, including a Brillouin Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (BOTDR) unit and a DAS system operated by the Centro Siciliano di Fisica Nucleare e Struttura della Materia (CSFNSM) . The GeoINQUIRE Sicily Summer School focuses on new technologies used in Environmental Sciences, Earth Sciencesand Oceanic studies. In particular, the theory and the practical use of fibre optic sensing addressing strain changes on a wide spectrum is presented, together with some cutting edge techniques applied to volcanology and environmental studies. Cross fertilization sessions between the Solid Earth Sciences and Marine Science are part of the school’s program. The school is organized in three main training modules (Figure 1). Module 1: Fiber Optic Sensing Module 2: Sensors and Observation systems for environmental monitoring Module 3: RIs Services and GeoINQUIRE project's objectives Each module consists of lectures and handson activities. The training modules are enriched with day field trips to visit the INFN KM3Net facility in Capo Passero and the INGV EPOS facilities at Mt. Etna. This latter trip wll give trainees the opportunity the get closer to the most amazing volcanic features. The school also offers to the trainees the opportunity to present their own research results during the poster sessions and to have informal scientific discussions with the teachers in the Pint of Science session. The school is hosted in Malavoglia hotel in Aci Castello (Catania, Italy) from 16th to 23nd October 2025. The forty trainees come from universities and research institutions based in nineteen different countries (Austria, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Türkiye, United Kingdom, and United States), representing 22 different nationalities (Albanian, British, Chinese, Colombian, Croatian, Danish, Egyptian, Eritrean, Filipino, French, German, Greek, Indonesian, Iranian, Irish, Italian, Kenyan, Moroccan, Portugal, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish). They were selected over more than one hundred applicants from sixtysix different countries that applied to the call opened in March 2025. The trainees submitted extended abstracts of their ongoing research that are included in this volume. Overall, the studies are at top level for the quality of the data and the originality of the methods adopted for the analysis . It is worth to note that most of the studies are multidisciplinary embracing geophysical, geochemical, geological or environmental processes. Most of the abstracts deal with the application of DAS to characterize seismicity in specific environments or the development of new algorithms for efficient DAS data analysis either in urban or seismic areas. Other abstracts report results of seismological studies based on advanced analysis of conventional seismological signals. Research on ground deformation or strain in seismic and volcanic areas are also reported, as well as studies on geohazard assessment or marine geology. The volume also includes the Mt. Etna field trip guide. This guide provides an overview of the volcano's main volcanological characteristics and details the stops where specific examples of volcanological features and nodes of the multidisciplinary monitoring system. are presented.